LibriVox recording of Middlemarch by George Eliot

April 22, 2013 - Files were volume corrected to be more consistent.

The book examines the role of education in the lives of the characters and how such education and study has affected the characters. Rosamond Vincy's finishing school education is a foil to Dorothea Brooke's religiously-motivated quest for knowledge. Rosamond initially admires Lydgate for his exotic education, and his intellect. A similar dynamic is present in Dorothea and Casaubon's relationship, with Dorothea revering her new husband's intellect and eloquence. In both cases, however, the young wives' expectations of their husbands intellects are not reflected in reality.

Despite extreme erudition, Mr. Casaubon is afraid to publish because he believes that he must write a work that is utterly above criticism. In contrast, Lydgate at times arrogantly flaunts his knowledge, making enemies with his fellow physicians. He regards the residents of Middlemarch with a certain amount of contempt stemming from his belief that the townspeople are backwards and uninteresting. However, his education has not included tact and politicking, skills necessary in a small town but are seen by Lydgate as below him, the brilliant doctor.
(Summary - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlemarch )

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This audio is part of the collection: The LibriVox Free Audiobook Collection
It also belongs to collections: Audio Books & Poetry; Community Audio

Artist/Composer: George Eliot
Date: 2008-10-13
Source: Librivox recording of a public-domain text
Keywords: middlemarch; eliot; fiction; romance; librivox; audiobooks;

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: corranhorn - - September 2, 2011
Subject: excellent book
Unbelievable novel.

Reviewer: evasyrov - - June 7, 2011
Subject: Middlemarch
The reading from chapter 15 on was absolutely dreadful. If you expect people to listen to recordings, they shouldn't be made by people who can hardly speak English! I had to stop listening - and I really wanted to hear the rest of the book.

Reviewer: coripe - - March 31, 2009
Subject: My sentiments exactly
The reading, of which there are many chapters, by the non-native-English speaker made her chapters a true trial to listen to. Pity, as I'm sure her intentions were good but she rather overreached by reading in a language with which she is probably familiar as a reader but certainly not a speaker.

Reviewer: gooch12 - - November 21, 2008
Subject: Disappointed
There were a couple of problems with this recording. First, one of the readers -- who read a significant number of chapters -- is clearly not a native English speaker. While I was able to get used to her accent after a few chapters, her frequent mispronunciations were grating and almost led me to give up on the book.

Second, a number of chapters were recorded at rather low volumes, making it difficult to hear the reader if you're in a place with lots of ambient noise (gym, subway, etc.).